1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an electrical connector with power contacts adapted to carry different voltages for the customer's need.
2. Description of Related Art
Serial ATA connectors in accordance with Serial ATA specification are widely used in desktops currently for transmitting signals from motherboard to HDD or transmitting power from power supply of the computer to the HDD, or transmitting signals or power between outer HDD to the computer. When the Serial ATA connectors used in external applications, current designs usually are single connector comprising signal and grounding contacts for signal transmission or single connector comprising power contacts for voltage power transmission. However, in some applications, the connector transmitting signals needs to be combined with power transmission. Thus, an additional power connector is no longer needed. The actual status is that there is no such a connector complying with such demands.
Related connectors including power contacts can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 7,255,607 issued on Dec. 6, 2007, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/893,074 (which has been allowed by Examiner, but not yet issued), U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/998,771 (which is currently pending before USPTO), all of which are assigned to the same assignee as the current application. All of the above power contacts are adapted to carry a predetermined voltage, such as 3V, 5V or 12V. An electrical connector capable of carrying at least two different predetermined voltages is often required by customers to cater for actual needs.